


Bitter sweetness of the Red-suited men

by spicyhope



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking the Fourth Wall, But it is Wade, Calendar based fic, Hurt/Comfort, I DIDN'T WANT IT TO BE SO ANGSTY, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, No Beta, Peter Parker is stressed, Peter can't handle emotions well, Peter is a Little Shit, Peter-centric, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Avengers, Protective Wade, Sad with a Happy Ending, Wade Has Issues, Wade Wilson Needs A Hug, Wade dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-30 02:45:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10867416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicyhope/pseuds/spicyhope
Summary: Peter is challenged by his daily routine as a college student, a photographer and a super-hero, and Wade is haunted by the demons of his past and the uncertainty of the future. Between screams and chamomile teas, they find a safe place together.orThe one where Deadpool constantly proves his love to Spidey without using words as the year goes, and Spidey shows his love to DP with a lot of arguing and chamomile tea.





	Bitter sweetness of the Red-suited men

**Author's Note:**

> I wanna thank everyone for reading!! This is my second spideypool fic but I'm so scared of posting and getting hate D:  
> Anyways, I hope this felt right in the characterization, I want it to be likable for you ppl <3  
> Please leave a comment!!!! I beg you!!!!!!!!!!! I need validation or else i might shrivel and die sadfahgsdfahsgdfsahd  
> if you wanna check out I have written other stuff, so yeah umm  
> what else do i say??  
> please comment <3  
> have a nice reading and a nice day!!!!!!!  
> may the spideypool goddess bless all of us!  
> edit: i forgot to mention but the spiderman brazilian thing is real, we have a national meme called carreta furacão, you should search it, pretty funny

It was a chilly May night the first time Wade showed he cared Peter without words. He died in a refrigerator in order to protect Peter’s identity. He was poisoned through an IV so his healing factor would take too long to kick and he would die slowly and alone, with people laughing at his face and his suffering, just like his first death.

When Spidey came to his rescue, he had been dead for about 3 hours, almost frozen. It took a lot of deep breaths and concentration from the arachnid hero not to throw up, but he managed to take the bigger man out of the freezer and out of the repugnant apartment. Deadpool’s bones started to crack and the sound of an oddly loud sissy scream dismayed Peter. “BUT THAT’S JUST SHRIMP PORN!” Wade screamed as he jolted back to life.

Peter just sat and looked exasperated, glaring Wade until he came fully to his senses. “Oh hi, funny seeing you around here baby boy, I was just having an executive meeting with some friends.” He joyfully said, putting his mask back on as soon as he finished stretching his arms.

“Dude, what the actual f—you know what? Forget it. I’m not gonna even get started on this.” Peter sighed exasperated. ”How did you even managed to get kidnaped and why? You—you mother hugger, I had to drag your dead ass outta that nasty place!” He scoffed.

“Well ya know how they say it: I’m moved by a powerful set of legs and by a huge stomach pit. It happens sometimes that I need to fill it. So I was eating some yummy chicken wings until I realized they had a special ingredient, and dude, it was so not love!” Deadpool groped his own neck, where the IV was placed. “Then when I woke up in that shithole I knew it was Garcia’s place. We were just chatting when you came to rescue me like the courageous brave hero you are.”

“What the hell? If he was your friend then why did he do that?” Peter asked, sincerely confused. “Business is business, bug-boy! He wanted me to snitch something about someone and I refused, yadda yadda you know the deal.” Wade answered as if it was small talk about the weather.

“Couldn’t you break free? I mean, I’ve seen you in action, I know you could take these men down easily.” Peter offered, trying to apologize for being so insensitive. “Baby boy, please, if I wanted to, I could easily take down an army. The whole country! But that would demand me to break some rules I’ve settled with some bug themed hero, – yes white, we are talking about making people kebabs!--  and I would be very sad if my baby boy didn’t want to love my irresistible ass because I un-alived those goofs.” Wade smiled through the mask.

“How many times do I need to tell you that spiders are not bugs, Wade?” He actually laughed now. “So you were tortured all this time to protect someone else’s secret?”

“Yep.” Wade made the ‘p’ pop.

Spider-man brought him back to his part of the city, stopping at a restaurant for the starving man to eat. “So, let’s just exchange phones in case that happens again, I don’t want to drag you popsicle style outta places because you couldn’t warn me. But don’t try funny stuff.” Peter said, writing his number on a napkin.

“Dude I have your number, chill.” Wade chuckled. “I accidentally know everything about you since that coop in June, when we returned other Spider-man to his own universe. That was sooooo fucked up!” Wade blattered about that mission and going other timelines while Peter’s eyes widened in shock. Wade knew about his secret identity for all this time and didn’t say anything to anyone?! How did he even learn that Peter Parker was Spider-man?!

“Wait a minute, how did you ‘accidentally know everything about me’?! Wade, why didn’t you freaking tell me?!” Spider-man started to rant and hyperventilate. He had a private identity for a reason, he had people to protect. His chest started to constrict and panic took over.

“Woah, Spidey don’t get your panties in a twist, that’s why I didn’t tell you. I was hoping you would tell me when you felt comfortable enough. You’re like a big scared cat, stop being like that. I was gonna meet a cute guy that takes pictures of you for the Bugle, because I was tots not stalking you, then I called him and his voice was kinda familiar to me... It would take no Sherlock Holmes to come to the conclusions I came to. And you have a lot of info in your own blog bee-tee-dubs!” Deadpool continued eagerly to eat his enormous Burger.

It took Peter some time to finally come down from his panic attack. “Dude you didn’t even think about telling me the truth? How can I even trust you DP?” Peter scoffed and threw a napkin to the dirty floor. “Spidey, chill, I wouldn’t do that to a bro! You thinking that I’d do that hurts my totally manly feels.” Even through the mask Peter could see that what he said sting.

“Yeah, like you haven’t sold info about people before!” His anger was starting to get the best of him. “You know what? We can’t be friends anymore. Don’t come anywhere near my aunt because if you think you can’t die, I will be more than inclined to prove you wrong. If you cause any eventual trouble I’m kicking you out of this city Deadpool.” Peter stood up tall, still shorter than the mercenary, but in a threatening pose.

Instead of standing up and argue with Peter, as he expected, Wade just seemed to be sad, too surprised to provoke back. “Okie dokie, webs.” His voice was small, almost weak, as if he was breaking down, and that brought Peter to the breaking point of fury. He just shot his webs to a tall building and tried to listen for distress signs around the city.

What he couldn’t shake out was that outrageous feeling of betrayal, from someone he was starting to think of as a friend. He was harsher than necessary that night with the criminals trying to rob a convenience store, but that had nothing to do with a certain red costumed person that talked to imaginary voices in his own head and slept with stuffed unicorns. A person that also happened to be an ex-mercenary that killed more people than he even knew before retiring from murdering. A person who was loud and obnoxious, and certainly wouldn’t change, Peter should have known. Behind all that flirting and pampering Deadpool was only trying to get more info on him so he could sell it.

On the next day, getting to the lab on the Stark tower Peter was a little surprised when Natasha congratulated him, and then Mrs. Potts, and Wanda. He thanked them all but still didn’t know why. And then Tony came and clarified things.

“Good morning, Pete! How do you feel after taking down the gang that was going to kill you? Good, I must imagine.” Tony smirked, sipping a tall glass of orange juice.

“Well, ah, umm, what?!” Was all he could manage to say. “Well, the cops found loads of pictures of Spider-man in action, and a black board with some heroes you associated with. It seems like you found them before they found you, that’s my boy!” cheered his boss.

“Huh… thanks.” Peter smiled weakly. Gang? Trying to kill him? The only thing close to a gang that he defeated was the incident at the convenience store he used to buy his shaving cream. Before that was only… Deadpool’s rescue. He webbed about thirty men, armed but distracted with a soccer game. But that meant they were interrogating Wade about him. That made sense why the ex-merc refused to react, he was protecting Peter. The stalking thing was not okay in whole other level, but Wade kept his secret for a year and was tortured for god knows how long to protect his secret identity. He felt a little bad for being so severe with Wade now.

He spent the day eating the insides of his mouth thinking about how he was gonna apologize, but his mind was still a blank canvas. He went to college and sitting on the refectory he was still trying to figure something out. Then he saw a guy treating his girlfriend with some chocolate and flowers, and that gave him an insight. In a totally heterosexual way he would get some tacos and apologize to Wade, no homo though. During his boring class of horizontal gene transfer, he managed to get the merc’s number and text him. If he was lucky, things would get back to normal.

_Sorry I was a douchebag. I’m still mad you stalked me. Tacos?_

Hitting send, he quickly got a reply.

_how did u get my number? *o* love it when bae is sorry ^~^ buy mine extra spicy baby boy_

And being forgiven this easily, Peter couldn’t say no to that demand. He got the hot meal into a bag and headed to an old abandoned church rooftop that was usually the place he found Deadpool muttering to himself or shooting cans for fun. In an old beaten beach chair, Wade Wilson was expecting him, using a cardboard box as a table with plastic table wear. “Baby boy, what took you so long? I am starving!”

“You’re always hungry DP.” Peter scoffed, putting the bag on the improvised table. Noticing a little candle on the middle of it, Peter couldn’t help but smile. “You like it when I’m sappy?” Wade smiled too, stuffing his mouth with food and trying to talk. “I still wonder how you got my number though.”

“I googled you…? It was on the phone book too, don’t pretend you didn’t know it!” Spider-man laughed, getting a bite of his own tortillas. They laughed quietly until the only sound audible was the little rats going underneath the structure. “Thanks for uh, that other day, I mean… well, you know it, uhhh keeping my secret and stuff. Yep. Just thanks, you were nice Wilson.” Peter stammered as well as he could.

“Anything for you, Mr. Parker.” Then he was quiet for a bit. “Can I call you by your name?I—I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” And Spider-man could swear that under the mask the merc was blushing. “Yeah, there’s no point of calling me by my alter ego. Even though you rarely call me by that, it’s always those weird nicknames.” Peter felt confident enough to take off his mask. If Deadpool could deal with knowing everything about his civil life, he could also deal with seeing his face.

“Baby boy, what the fuck? If I knew you were this bomb I would’ve light the candle as soon as we’d met. Look at that chin, sweetums, and those dumb eyes, I think I peed a little… Peter, you’re handsome! Peter sound too formal, hmm, Petah, Potor, Petey, yeah I like that one too yellow, I think we’re going with Petey! How you doing there, Petey-pie?” Wade came to a resolve after another internal monologue.

“Fine, Wade, thanks.” Peter answered smiling, giving up.

* * *

June crashed bringing the rainstorms. It was Peter’s favorite time of the year as a photographer but as a super-hero it sucked being soaked in rain. His webs were not that sticky in the rain, dissolving faster than normal because of the chemical reaction with the New York City’s acid rain. On a Wednesday, Peter stayed inside instead of patrolling; after a failure on one of his web-shooters that almost cost a civilian’s life, he made himself sit and recalculate the density of the fluid inside the designed web-shooters to improve his performance in wet or underwater situations. As usual, Wade was at his place after a secret mission on Brazil (that he told everything about), munching on his Aunt’s brownies and trying to distract him with videos of a cart of fantasized people that did parkour and dance. “Look Pete, this one features Spider-man doing the crazy butt stuff! Bet you can do a dance off together, I would pay to see that ass rolling.” Wade chuckled looking at his phone’s screen. In a normal day Peter would probably watch the video and snort with Wade, but he was so tired and overloaded with responsibilities from college, his job application at the Stark tower and his almost failure as a hero, that it managed to get him mad. Mad at Wade for not letting him concentrate, mad because he was afraid of his grades, mad because his paycheck wouldn’t help Aunt May too much this month, mad because he felt he couldn’t accomplish stuff. “Wade, either shut the hell up or get out, you’re stressing me out!” Peter gnarled.

“Calm down, baby boy! Just chill. I’m trying to distract you—” Wade was interrupted by Peter “And you’re accomplishing it!” But Wade continued. “—because I know you’re blaming yourself too much about that thing I saw on the news. It was just a guy, and you saved him. Don’t push yourself too hard, man.” And then he tapped Peter’s arm. “Yeah, Wade, I wish I could just ‘just chill’ instead of worrying about every citizen that might not get home to their family because I was too incompetent to save them. I wish I was like you, but I just can’t ‘not care’ about people and what’s the right damn thing to do, so unlike you I’m trying to improve myself so I can help people!” Peter ended up shouting at the end, his voice acid, just to hurt Wade right where he knew it would. But instead of running away and finally leaving Peter to work himself to sleep, Wade just sighed and got up from the couch. He went to the supermarket bags he brought with him, got something and went to the kitchen. Peter could only watch and breathe slower, calmer now. When Wade came back, he was holding an old yellow mug full of chamomile tea. “This will make you feel better, you only need to think less in order to think more. Trust me, I know stuff.” Wade said affectionately, handing him the tea. Peter sipped it, it had too much sugar but it was warm and made him inhale deeply, already feeling the tension tone down a bit. He stayed quiet while Deadpool still watched him, until he put down the mug, empty. “Feeling better, baby boy?” Wade chuckled.

“Yeah.” Peter admitted, guilty. “Sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean that.”

“Don’t worry about it, the boxes can be so much worse… I just became used to being insulted at one point in my life, heh. Now that you feel a little better get back to your work, I will go to Target, I’m in need of some groceries myself, and pancakes can’t get made off of brick dust and dirty water.” Wade ruffled Peter’s hair and turned to the door, dodging the plastic bags on the floor. Peter was so stunned that he couldn’t even react until the soft click of the door closing brought him back to the reality. How could Wade Wilson be so nice to him when he was a terrible friend? He certainly should have other friends that treated him better, like Logan and some of the X-men or the thunderbolts, so Peter thought. But then Logan couldn’t stand Wade, they always killed each other. And if Wade ever had someone to share a white picket fence house with, Peter didn’t know, the man didn’t say a word about his past. To be true to himself, Wade said some stuff, but he always contradicted himself and then blamed it on implanted memories, so yeah, Peter couldn’t say what was true and what was fantasy. Maybe Wade thought that being treated badly was the best he could ever get. That made Peter sad.

He couldn’t face the merc because of his shame in almost a week, but when he went after him, he discovered Wade was on a mission on a parallel universe. When he came back, he even remembered to bring Peter a little gift: it was the equation of a better web formula made by his alias from there, Miles Morales. Peter couldn’t thank him enough, so they ate chicken nuggets that time, Peter paid.

* * *

On August, his birthday came and he went to Aunt May’s to eat some cake and chat a little about how fast life goes, just like a flash. He ended up patrolling Bronx, not because there was too much trouble, besides Luke Cage had been walking around there, but because the abandoned church where Wade used to be was nearby, and he brought him some leftover cake. They ate, they laughed and they danced to pussycat dolls. Then Wade convinced him to take some tequila shots, because of his fast metabolism he wouldn’t be drunk for too long and then they could look for some trouble. Apparently some shots became many, and Peter wasn’t able to walk in a straight line, so he sit on the chair while he watched Wade take some notes on a small notebook, laughing to himself.

“Baby boy, my Petey-pie, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you I wanna cuddle you forever, and make you morning pancakes, and get you drunk on your birthday just so you can relax a little.” Wade sat beside him, bringing his arms around Peter’s frame. “Well, I could use some maiming like this some more, Wade” And they laughed together, until it was hard to breathe. Wade took off his mask willingly for the first time being around Peter, he seemed hesitant, afraid.

Peter just held right hand and caressed his face, looking into his so sad eyes. They were coming closer, the time around them felt like it came to a stop, this was their moment. Peter smiled, and that made Wade smile too, not a forced smirk like the one he always used with his mask, but a sincere, genuine one. When Peter finally took the courage to go ahead, he advanced but at the same time Wade engulfed him in his mass of muscles and gave him a tight hug. The hazy atmosphere slowly disappeared and Peter felt coherent again. He was about to do what?? Kiss Wade Wilson?? He hugged the man back, coughing to make his blush go away. “You rock, birthday-boy, thanks for bringing me cake and endure with my flirting and enduring with me to be honest.” Wade’s voice was weak.

“C’mon Wade, this is what friends do, right?” Peter was screaming inside, thinking about just moments before trying to kiss his friend. He, a heterosexual male that loved cute smart girls was just considering AND almost kissing a six foot something male, who killed far more people than he would like to know, liked fart jokes and cried watching Titanic.

That night, when Peter came home he couldn’t sleep. He spent the night thinking about how well red and black went together.

* * *

 

The winds of October came, and together with them, a monstrous amount of Halloween themed villains. In the end of the month, when the Avengers asked him for help to bring down an army of scarecrows brought to life by an evil witch, Peter found himself laughing out loud at an overly preoccupied Tony Stark. It was all pretty manageable until pumpkins from central park came to life too and started exploding corrosive goo on people.

“Spider-man, we need back-up. Do you have the number of your Freddy Krueger friend? If you do, call him.” Tony instructed through his communicator. Ignoring the insults, Peter quickly sent a text, hoping that Deadpool didn’t show up. The intentions on calling Deadpool were pretty clear: the Avengers needed someone that could take the damage to go through the pumpkin field and end up alive to capture the witch. Peter was mad at the A-team for thinking of Wade as a punching bag for dirty jobs.

He webbed a mass of scarecrows together and tried to get rid of them with the pumpkins, until he heard a lot of booms and a very high-pitched voice that could only belong to Deadpool. He cornered all of the pumpkins into the grass, where the A-team could deal with them. The peripheral vision Peter had was almost nauseating: Wade was holding his intestines as he shot and sliced through the cursed things, he was exposed, vulnerable, but didn’t stop fighting. Black Widow jumped to the witch, and a huge amount of Russian cusses and screamed spells echoed through the woods, until the blade of Wade’s katana sliced and decapitated the woman. Her hands still moved, along with her legs, in inhumane positions, until she finally fell dead to the ground. “What the actual fuck, Deadpool?” Tony screamed, getting out of the suit. “We were going to lock her up, we called Dr. Strange, but I guess it was all for nothing.” Captain America sighed, looking at Peter. “She was using ghoul spells, I saw this on Cambodia, couldn’t be stopped.” Wade gushed, spitting blood. Peter could only look at the shocked face of the dead body, staring in horror.

He started to move back and away from the murder scene, feeling bile up on his throat. “Spidey, you okay?” Wade asked, trying to move closer to him, extending a hand to his shoulder. Peter dodged it. He was exhausted, he just expected his friend become a murderer again and he couldn’t face him right now. He could see the hurt look on the growing eyeball of Wade’s injured face. He took his hand back as if it was burned. Spider-man just webbed himself to the closer building and swung away. After that day he didn’t see Deadpool anymore.

* * *

 

 November’s cold caught up with the city, and Peter felt comfortably numb in it. He spent some good days immersed in his thoughts, while Spider-man vanished from the city. The newspapers were asking about him, forums on the internet asked if he was dead, but Spider-man just needed some time to think. Peter heard Deadpool let himself be locked up in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, the same one he used to bring the escaped prisoners instead of killing for money. He couldn’t help but think it was guilt.

Searching about it later, Peter found out that in fact Wade was right, the witch was in possession of a powerful ghoul spell, which insisted on the consumption of young human meat to gather the powers of bringing objects to life. She wouldn’t die unless if decapitated. If it wasn’t Wade, it would be somebody else to kill her. That brought a little peace to his heart, knowing that Wade didn’t just kill someone because it was the easy way, like the old times, but he did it because it was absolutely necessary. He started to go back to the streets again, helping people would help him deal with his emotional mess, then the rumors of what happened after he left caught up with him: the A-team entitled him as a threat again and Deadpool agreed, being brought to the Stark Tower and following, the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison. That made Peter stop at his tracks, Deadpool killed a person, but it wasn’t even a choice, he had to; the man had been harmless as a fly for the last three years, trying to redeem himself, working for the good guys and cleaning up their messes, Wade was by no means a threat. Peter trusted him with his life, he was a caring friend, a good person and only received bullshit from everyone. Peter never noticed but no one ever defended him, until now.

He left his lab on working hours (that was risky for a new employee) and pressed the elevator to Tony Stark’s office, where a reunion was happening. He would later burn the security cameras records, but he needed to face the A-team and stop being their puppet of needing times. Entering the room, Natasha stared at him, Dr. Banner adjusted his glasses. “Peter, I don’t think you’re supposed to be here” he says with a cold but soft tone. “And I don’t think Deadpool should be considered a threat. Seriously? I leave and all the rationality flies off the window?” Peter scoffs.

“Spider-man…?” Clint’s eyebrows frown together. “If there was no other plausible way of dealing with the witch then why did you blame Wade for doing it? You called him to die for us and then take the blame, is that correct?” His breath was leaving his lungs fast and his heart was beating so fast he was afraid of fainting.

“I don’t know what came to your ears but apparently it wasn’t the whole truth.” Captain America tried to pacify the tension on the room. “Then tell me what happened!” Peter shouted, startling everybody. “Sit down, son.” Peter was offered a chair, but refused. “Listen Spid—Peter. After you left we were ready to let Deadpool go, let it on just a fee or community service, but then he said he was dangerous and needed to be locked up. We had a lot of records on him from the past, and he was offering himself, we couldn’t say no.” Steve tried to calm him down. “But his mind was so messed up at that time, people freaking implanted memories on him, he was mind controlled to do stuff. You should lock up the people who have done that to him, not the man who saved your asses just a couple days ago!” his voice left him, exasperated. “He was trying so hard to be better, we all just gave him rejection and sucked all of his hope away. If what Wade Wilson committed was a crime we’re just as guilty as he is.” His fingers grabbed the table so hard it cracked. A long silence passed, until Romanov spoke. “I’m with the Spider-kid, you guys tried to lock me up sometimes until I was finally admitted as an official non-threat. We came a long way until today.” She elbowed Clint, smiling. “Shit, I can’t believe you’re going to make us apologize to ugly face… I also can’t believe we had Spider-man working here with us and never noticed. We’re getting old team!” Tony muttered, annoyed.

The prison was dark, all the lights were artificial, the cells were small, lonesome and miserable. They received calls from other prisoners for help, for water, for food, for freedom, and it was absolutely inhuman. The officer whistled to a familiar tune until they reached Wade’s cell. “Get your ass off there, you have visitors, Wilson.” The keys clacked and opened the gate. Inside, Wade was hanging from the ceiling pipes, an improvised rope made of his bed sheets around his neck, his mask nowhere to be seen. “It’s shower day? I think I’m good, I like the smell.” Wade’s hoarse voice echoed, the sound coming out weak out of his crushed windpipe. Tony threw his uniform and mask on the bed deck. “Get dressed, we need to talk.”

“Tin can, long time no see! I’m afraid the ‘humiliate Deadpool’ sessions only work on Mondays and Wednesdays” He smiled, waving down. Ripping the fabric off, Wade came crashing to the ground, he took his uniform and headed to the changing room, ignoring Peter’s presence. Once they were out of the prison and in Tony's office room, Stark looked at Peter, exasperated, unaware of what to say. “Listen, I’m gonna do this quickly. You always took the dirty jobs we sent you because we could put the blame on you, but this time we’re all to blame. Someone brought it our attention that you’ve been trying to change so yeah, consider this a second chance. Also, I know a thing or two about PTSD, if you want to work it out go to his guy.” Stark handed him a card and put the files containing the crimes Deadpool committed on the trash, lighting it on fire. “How do I know you won’t change your mind?” The ex-merc’s expression couldn’t be read through his mask, but Peter could bet it was suspicion. “I’m a man of my word.” Tony winked. Then Wade asked for privacy to talk about juridical details.

 Even after that, Wade continued to ignore him. “Wade, man up will you? Just talk to me.” Peter asked. Wade just looked at him, really looked. “We can’t be friends anymore Spidey, I’m really sorry.” And he left. Peter looked for him everywhere, but Wade was just gone.

* * *

It was nearly December, the snow was covering up the streets, inch by inch, but Spider-man didn’t stop looking for Deadpool. He patrolled the abandoned church three times a week, plus Wade’s favorite restaurants and the places he used to go for fun. Peter realized that all the little things he remembered about Wade made him miss him more, that just like a bug, Wade crawled under his skin and made his way to Peter’s heart. He wanted to talk to Wade, to agree that they couldn’t be friends anymore, but not because the ex-merc was afraid of being a bad influence, but because they were already so much more. On the last patrol, on a Saturday, Peter walked through the rooftop of their usual meeting place, until he heard a sobbing voice singing, strangled the tune to happy birthday. Inside, Wade was tossed against a wooden bench, holding a photograph. There were so many alcohol bottles across the floor it was hard not to step in one. “Whose birthday is it?” Peter asked carefully, his spider sense tingling. “M’own, my daughter’s too. She’s dead though.” Wade’s tone was almost dead, so different from is usual playful self. “When I discovered I had a daughter, I came here, to baptize her, y’know? Wanted her soul to be saved and stuff, her mother believed on redemption, salvation. I guess she was wrong. She… They died because of me…” Wade took off his mask completely, his eyes were full of tears. “I was here, mourning her loss when I saw you outside helping an old lady. I was filled with hope after that day, but yeah, I failed at being a goodie two shoes too.” Wade cried silently, not a sound to be heard. “Why did you say we can’t be friends?” Peter tried to get him to talk.

“I didn’t even know I had a daughter, when I did, she became the whole word to me, Petey. I killed her. The people I care about die. I can’t risk killing you too, you have a bright future ahead of you, and I don’t want you to lose your time on this scumbag ex-merc with a big mouth. I am holding you back by even interacting with you. You should have listened, I need you to go away.” The fat tears rolled down his face. Peter’s spider sense came to a spike when Wade held his gun in his direction, finger on the trigger. “Go.”

“Wade, let me jus—“ he was interrupted by the loud noise of a shot, he managed to doge by milliseconds. “GO AWAY!” Wade shouted, still crying. Peter stood, and then he left. He knew exactly what to do. Leaving quickly he made his way to his apartment, jumping inside through the window, gathering everything he needed. 

 

When he returned, Wade was about to shoot himself for the second time apparently, holding the barrel of the gun with disgust. Seeing Peter there again, this time with a bag, he stiffed on his position. “Do I need to actually shoot you? Go away!” He spit angrily. Peter made his way through the bottles of cheap booze, sitting beside Wade, smacking the gun away. “You know I have at least a dozen other guns hidden somewhere, right bug boy?” 

 

“If you don't shut your mouth I'll web it.” Peter took his thermos beaten bottle -that he used to take coffee to work- out of the bag, it had hot water. He then drew up his hand, with two mugs, one being the yellow one Wade already knew and the other a red and black with a weird design that Peter thought that would suit Wade and bought it. The teabags were a bit screwed up, but he put them in the mugs and brewed the chamomile tea, the smell already comforting Wade, making his shoulders drop.

 

“Mother hugger, I forgot the sugar! We'll have to pretend its sweet.” Peter took off his mask and smiled nervously. Wade just looked at him as if he wasn't real, so captivated in his thoughts that Peter began thinking he broke the merc with a mouth. Then he flipped and started looking at his pouches for something. He took a little plastic bag with sweetener packs from a variety of hotels, some american, some brazilian, others korean, some Peter couldn't recognize the language it contained on the brand. “There ya go.” Wade smiled weakly. They drank the tea in silence, shoulders touching, just breathing together until their hearts were beating in sync.

 

“My mom used to make me chamomile tea when I was a kid and cried. I... I think that this is a real memory, not the bullshit they made me believe. I associated it with comfort, apparently. Wow, a murderer with mommy issues, how original lady writer, that's the new shit.” It was meant to sound strong and sarcastic but even Wade could hear how broken he was. Peter didn't understand the last part but he could understand Wade to a spiritual level. Sometimes he remembered being a kid and his mother singed him to sleep when big rainstorms hit his then bedroom window. Sometimes as an adult he still sings to himself when it rains too much, just for the relief of it. “A really special friend of mine made me tea when I was so stressed out that I became an asshole, so I supposed it would work with you too.” Peter hugged him. “We won’t be friends anymore, Petey. I am getting out of New York tomorrow and never coming back.” Wade held him closer, sniffing on his neck.

 

“I agree. We won’t be friends anymore.” Peter whispered, moving his head until his forehead touched Wade’s, looking deeply into his big eyes. “We’ll be more.” And with all the courage he’d stored within, he snatched Wade’s lips in a chaste kiss, passionate yet simple, just like their relationship. Peter kissed trying to tell him all the apologies he wasn’t able to ask for, all the little things that he didn’t thank Wade for, all the love the other man showed him when he received nothing. Peter didn’t know the exact moment he fell in love with Wade, he just woke up and realized that the man was already a part of his life, life without Wade was melancholic: subtle yet irrefutable, chipped away as the time progressed. The joyful and easy way Wade treated things helped Peter not obsess over stuff, his overprotective manner helped on the streets, Wade always saw the trouble before it happened, he kept Peter anchored to the real world, not just the super-hero world.“Baby boy, you okay there?” Wade asked genuinely, after Peter’s prolonged silence, being immersed with thoughts and feels. “Now I am, yeah.” Peter murmured.

 "Let's get out of here and eat some cake, a birthday it's not a birthday without cake, shall we?" Peter offered his hand for Wade to take it. He took it.

* * *

 

 

December was beating records of low temperatures, and apparently even criminals didn’t like to stand out in the cold until their ball sack shriveled, so Peter enjoyed a nice and lazy morning home, being hugged and almost smashed into the bed by Wade. Peter was so happy he couldn’t remember a time he felt this satisfied with his own life, so he peppered Wade’s jaw and face with kisses. “I’m gonna punch you in the face if you don’t let me sleep, baby boy.” Wade growled, his chest vibrated and Peter could feel it on his own.

 

“Woah what happened to ‘I wanna cuddle you forever, and make you morning pancakes’, huh? Aunt May’s right, you boys are all the same!” Peter snorted, burying his cold nose on Wade’s neck. Wade did indeed punch him, but it was an involuntary response to having a popsicle shoved up against your neck, as Wade would later complain.

 

The A-team one by one personally apologized to Wade, what he made sure to record for some laughs later, then they offered an official job, huge paycheck for being an weapon expert at NYC, so he wouldn’t be gone too long. Wade often treated himself with some chamomile tea, along with Peter, but now it didn’t need that much sugar.

 

Because if you give it a chance, life can become sweet as honey.


End file.
